Secure distribution of digital content from producers to consumers has traditionally been implemented by setting up a secure channel between the producer and the consumer. The most commonly used technologies of this type are SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and IPsec (Internet Protocol Security). However, such technologies suffer from the disadvantage that a significant overhead is required in setting up the secure channel, and this limits its scalability. This overhead is particularly significant when only a small amount of content is to be transferred in a single transaction (a microtransaction), or when the same data is to be sent to a large number of consumers at the same time. Security and privacy issues may arise from the fact that the producer must be directly involved in authorising the consumer.
An alternative approach to secure distribution of digital content is the use of a digital container system. In such a system, protection is applied directly to the content by means of a data encryption process, which removes the need for a secure session. The digital container can be delivered to any number of customers. On receipt by a customer, the data can be decrypted only if the customer has access to the decryption key.